I felt like they kind of gave it away when they showed the 2 of them waiting for the finale to be over...

Spoiler:

Nina looked unhappy and Nick was trying his best not to look at the camera. Ultimately though, I think Nina shot herself in the foot by delivering a ho-hum desert to end the meal... she may have delivered 2 awesome "extra" courses, but ultimately her last 2 courses were either bad or weak.

It was also clear that Tom felt that Nick had clearly won and I think he might have emasculated Emeril and Hugh who were clearly leaning towards Nina.

Yeah... it was really weird. Tom was ready to crown Nick after 5 minutes of discussion. Padma and Emeril weren't necessarily saying Nina should win, but wanted to discuss it a little more than, "Welp, Nick, yeah? Yeah. Let's go."

Based on the way the comments were presented, I felt that Nick had the edge from the get go on the quality of his food. It basically comes down to one simple thing: Of the missteps that each made, which were the greater detriment to the overall enjoyment of the meal? Based on the judges opening their remarks by calling out Nick for his rude behavior towards the servers, I felt that should have weighed more heavily in the reckoning. Then again, it did only happen to one set of judges; if all the judges dined together, I have no doubt Nina would be Top Chef. But, ultimately, if you're biggest fails are your entree (likely the biggest portion of food you're serving) and your dessert (the last bite of your food the judges will taste) it probably shouldn't be a surprise that the judges sided with stronger closer. I can't say I'm unhappy with Nick winning; I felt much of his complaining about Carlos was entirely justified, if efette. But you kinda have to admit that this was a case of a more consistent chef sorta pooping the bed with it all on the line rather than Nick hitting it out of the park. He sort of backed into this.

That said, the critique in the finale was just odd. Tom's favorite dish of the night - of the season, if I recall his words correctly - (the scallop noodles, which Nick actually had very little to do with) was actively disliked by most of the other judges. Hate to say it, but Colicchio's credibility took a bit of a hit this year. Between the "tomatoes have no place in Vietnamese cooking" remarks early on and the disconnect with the judges on a few other episodes and his open contempt for some of the cheftestants..... I gotta say, I'm not a fan of New Tom. (It should be noted that Colicchio has not contributed a blog entry since that Vietnamese challenge, and I think that's due in part to him getting absolutely shredded by readers.)

And Padma seemed extra bit-chy the last couple episodes.... which were basically a nod to the straight males in the audience. "Nick, you get to pick your three sous chefs. Who do you pick first?" "Um..... boobs?"

I felt this group of cheftestants was largely uninspiring and in many cases outright useless. Who the bloody hell shows up to a cooking competition set in New Orleans and doesn't prepare by practicing with common local ingredients? Not a single one of the cheftestants said they had worked with frogs legs or alligator in the first episode...... not even the two guys FROM NOLA, iirc. That's unimaginably irresponsible. I have never been more excited for a Top Chef season.... so the letdown in quality was even more pronounced.

Yeah, that's one thing I thought about this season... where are the Richard Blais, the Stephanie Izards, the Voltaggio brothers, the Ilan Halls, heck even the Stefan Richters where you look at the food presented and say, "wow... i've never seen something like that before. it looks incredible." The imagination for many of the dishes this season were lackluster. I think they need to take a break for a bit and rethink what they're trying to do with this show. Then again, it is Bravo, so who knows.

Marinate in a mixture of soy sauce, worchestershire, vinegar, any spices you want. I prefer to grill them but if that's not an option try broiling. I also have just thrown a whole steak in a buttered skillet and fried about 6 min per side. There's hardly any fat so they burn easily and can get chewy

mac5155 wrote:Marinate in a mixture of soy sauce, worchestershire, vinegar, any spices you want. I prefer to grill them but if that's not an option try broiling. I also have just thrown a whole steak in a buttered skillet and fried about 6 min per side. There's hardly any fat so they burn easily and can get chewy

Everything Mac said. Emphasis on not overcooking them, medium at most. If you fry, them add a bit of garlic and onions. Delectable!

Saturday is going to be a good one...... going to a matinee performance of "The Book Of Mormon" and then it's dinner at Hinoki & The Bird, by David Myers. His Executive Chef is Kuniko Yagi, who was a cheftestant on Top Chef Seattle (she's the one who took three hours to undercook a potato dish). The restaurant is on many 'best new' lists, not just for Los Angeles but for the country as a whole. The cuisine is modernist Asian-American, and I'm completely excited.

However, that doesn't mean that tomorrow morning at 8 am - as I have been doing every other Friday for about six months now - I'm not going to log in and try to snag tickets for Trois Mec.

making gyros this evening. I've made chicken ones before (chicken marinaded in greek yogurt and garlic before being grilled and put on pita with tzatziki sauce, lettuce, onion, and tomato) but tonight i'm making a lamb/beef pureed loaf and cutting it like they do for fair gyros and putting them in a skillet to brown them. I'm not sure if it'll be any good or not, but it's worth a shot.